This invention relates generally to piping connections, and, more specifically, to an outlet piping connection assembly having substantial application in the area of evaporative water cooling towers.
Evaporative water cooling towers are well known in the art. These towers have been used for many years to reject heat to the atmosphere. Evaporative water cooling towers may be of many different types including counterflow forced draft, counterflow induced draft, crossflow forced draft, crossflow induced draft, hyperbolic, among others.
Evaporative water cooling towers are used in a variety of applications. For example, such towers are used to provide cooling water to industrial processes such as food processing operations, paper mills, and chemical production facilities. A very large area of application for cooling towers is the area of comfort cooling, or air conditioning systems. In these systems, evaporative cooling equipment is utilized to provide cooling water needed in the condensing operations of the refrigeration system.
Crossflow type evaporative cooling towers could be utilized in either comfort cooling or industrial cooling applications. Crossflow cooling towers typically include a heat transfer surface often comprising a plurality of fill sheets grouped together and supported by the tower structure. Water is distributed from a distribution system gravitationally downwardly through the fill sheets, spreading out across the fill sheets to maximize the water's surface area. As water flows down the fill sheets, air is drawn across, or blown through, the fill sheets in a direction that is 90.degree. transposed from the direction of water flow. As the air contacts the water, heat and mass transfer occur simultaneously, resulting in a portion of the water being evaporated into the air. The energy required to evaporate the water is supplied from the sensible heat of the water which is not evaporated. Accordingly, the temperature of the nonevaporated water remaining in the tower is reduced and cooling is accomplished. The cooled water remaining in the tower is typically collected in a cooled water sump which is generally located at the bottom of the tower structure. From this collection sump, the water is pumped back to the heat source where it picks up additional waste heat to be rejected to the atmosphere. The air into which the water is evaporated is exhausted from the tower.
For various reasons, including prevention of corrosion and leaking, it is desirable to line the cooled water sump with an impervious liner. Such liners could be comprised of various plastics or fiberglass reinforced polyester materials.
One problem which has been found with such lined basins is that it is difficult to connect outlet piping to the basin. Such outlet piping frequently is lengthy, heavy and may induce undesirable stresses on the liners.